Friday, October 23, 2009

Did Robert "R" Patterson's sons remain in VA to work that farm?

Been thinking on your question a little more... did one or more of Robert's sons stay in Va to work the land?

Your Robert (II) married late. Was that because he stayed behind and ran the farm in Va?

Peter never acquired a land grant in SC (that I know of). Was that because he stayed behind in Va, and then later bought land in SC from someone else?

Did Thomas stay a while in Va but then move south later? His son John was born ca 1765 (pretty solid date), supposedly in SC.

Thomas could have stayed in Va and then gone back and forth, but then acquiring the other Va land in 1773 negated his need for a share in his father's land.

Another angle... Robert II and Peter may have been left the land since they stayed and worked it the most, thus earning their right to inherit it.

Another thought... Robert II and Peter were not listed as Loyalists from York Co SC. Why? I'm sure there's several possible reasons, but one could be that they were not living there all the time, or as vocal there due to their interests in Va. That said, Robert and Peter do later come down and buy up land, but that may have been due to the fact that the Loyalist factions of the family were being "driven out". I remember seeing a book at the SC Archives that documented that Joseph Black's land on Clarks Fork was confiscated and then resold in 1783. Did you know that? It's my understanding that Nathaniel Harrison's was, too. And George Julian, as well. Some of them got their lands back, but apparently Joseph Black didn't.

I need to get over to Randolph Co NC and search through their records and try to determine if those Pattersons there in 1790 were my Thomas and his clan or not. I've gotta be honest with you, I'm 50/50 on it right now. Normally, I'd be 20/80, meaning I think there's an 80% chance it was NOT him. I'm more like 10/90 on the Dorchester SC Thomas now. I've seen much of the records surrounding that Thomas and it just doesn't look like mine. It COULD have been, but this Randolph group seems more likely, for more reasons.

Back to the Va lands... this means those families around Muddy Creek, Linville Creek, etc are more likely to be the families those sons married into (Thomas, Robert II, Peter). Just a possibility we have to consider.